In an era of the #metoo movement, it’s almost become a common occurrence to hear women coming forward with accusations against men, more frequently men in positions of power or authority. One of the most recent claims was made against Kevin Ranker, a senator of the 40th district of Washington State. The 40th district covers areas of the Skagit, Whatcom, and San Juan Counties.
Ann Larson served as Ranker’s legislative assistant for a year nearly a decade ago, where she claimed to the Seattle Times that he made unwanted advances toward her, such as touching her inappropriately, and sending her inappropriate text messages, despite many efforts to reject him.
Before Larson began working for Ranker in 2010, the two had a short relationship, where they engaged in two intimate encounters. Despite their past relationship, Larson claims that she attempted to keep their workplace relationship professional, but Ranker continued to touch her, make inappropriate comments, and asked her to stay after work late and offered her alcohol.
Larson attests that the longer these advances went on, the more hostile Ranker got when Larson rejected him. She provided an example of a time when Ranker became so angry that he yelled and slammed a door, causing Larson to grow emotional and cry, later meeting up with an attorney for the Legislature, where she explained her concerns about her and Ranker’s relationship.
Larson told The Seattle Times, that she said she complained to state Senate officials in 2010 and to her agency leadership years later.
Larson left her job with Ranker shortly after and began working as the legislative director at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Despite them no longer working together, Larson claims that didn’t stop the harassment from Ranker, doing things such as “threatening to cut the department’s budget, looking up her salary, telling her she was overpaid, examining what state authorizations allowed her job in the first place and threatening to cut programs important to her.”
Recently, she notified the governor’s office that she planned on going public with the issues she had with Ranker. The state senate then hired an investigator to evaluate Ranker and his actions.
“Whether or not there is a finding, at least I know there is an actual investigation happening,” Larson told the Seattle Times. “I applaud the Senate for doing something for once.”
The night of Jan. 11, Ranker sent a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee’s office late Friday saying he was resigning immediately, “with a heavy heart.” Ranker wrote in an email that he has cooperated with the investigation and sincerely apologizes and wishes Larson peace.
“I hope that by my actions, more people feel safe to report any kind of inappropriate behavior without fear of retaliation,” Larson wrote to The Associated Press.